A genetic test would allow autism to be detected, and possibly eliminated or cured, without understanding what autism is. This seems a likely scenario to me.

So it is not as if lack of an understanding of what autism is will prevent autism ever being cured or eliminated. We treat most mental conditions without really knowing what they are, by attempting to correct their biological correlates. Better understanding would merely speed up this process.

But understanding is also the only way members of my caste might be accepted as something other than diseased. To exaggerate somewhat: It's not worth staving off genocide a few years if doing so gives up hope of long term survival.

Anyway, given the slashdot/MSNBC/Wired articles, it seems this is not my own private delusional nightmare. Damn.